The newspaper review for Tuesday, February 27, leads the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) urged the National Assembly to investigate the circumstances surrounding the abduction of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe state among other stories.
Vanguard reports that contrary to assertions that the figure of 110 missing girls was arrived at after a meeting with stakeholders as announced by Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Sunday, parents of the girls have differed, saying they were not part of such meeting.
Chairman of the forum of parents of the missing girls, Bashir Manzo, who said he was not aware of the meeting in Damaturu, denied knowledge of the figure of 110 announced by the minister in Damaturu.
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Vanguard newspaper for Tuesday, February 27. photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
“I am not aware of the meeting in Damaturu. No one informed us here in Dapchi that a meeting would hold As far as our record here is concerned, we still have 105, but if they have additional names to what we had first established, fine and good.”
Alhaji Mohammed, on Sunday, in a statement issued by his media aide had said: “The Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are so far unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school on Monday (19 February, 2018).
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Army through the Theatre Command of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military’s anti-insurgency command in the North-East, on Monday, admitted that troops were redeployed from the Dapchi area before the abduction of the schoolgirls.
It added that the army “handed over the security of the area to the Nigeria Police Division.”
The Punch newspaper for Tuesday, February 27. photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations and the Theatre Command’s spokesperson, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the military should not be blamed for the abduction of the schoolgirls as the troops handed over a “peaceful and calm situation” to the police.
Nwachukwu said the troops were redeployed in Kanama, on the Nigeria-Niger Republic border, to combat Boko Haram terrorists who were attacking a military location in the area.
The Guardian reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday urged the National Assembly to immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding the abduction of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe State.
The party said the probe became imperative in the face of “rising speculations and conspiracy theories in the public space, fuelled by conflicting reports, attempts at cover-up and disagreements among government officials and agencies regarding the incident”
The Guardian newspaper for Tuesday, February 27. photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
In a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said that in conducting the investigation, the National Assembly must take a critical note of the allegation by the Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Geidam, that the abduction was preceded by withdrawal of troops safeguarding the troubled area.
“The governor is the chief security officer of the state and his statement cannot be taken lightly or even dismissed by just a wave of the hand by anybody or any government agency under any guise whatsoever.”
The Nation reports that to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) remains dominant in the 2019 general election, President Muhammadu Buhari, last night, urged party members to bury the hatchet and work together.
According to him, the unity of purpose and commitment of party members gave the party victory is 2015.
The Nation newspaper for Tuesday, February 27 photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
He spoke at the opening of the APC National Caucus meeting at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The president said: “I must heartily thank the party officials and members for the successes we have achieved in the 2015 elections in securing majority of the State Governors, majority in the National Assembly and majorities in the State Assemblies.
This Day reports that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday said until the existing laws regulating the conduct of elections in the country are amended, the arrangement of the elections as earlier announced by the commission this year, stands.
Yakubu also reiterated the commission’s determination to get to the root of the circumstances surrounding the underage voters, which manifested in the recent local government election in Kano state.
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This Day newspaper for Tuesday, February 27. photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
The INEC chairman stated these during a quarterly consultative meeting with the media at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Releasing the timetable for the 2019 general election early this year, INEC said the presidential/National Assembly election would come first follow by the governorship/state assembly election.
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Source: Naija.ng
ROSY CREST
Tuesday, 27 February 2018